the end of foreign terrorism and the formation of government president assad has just outlined his views on how syria could be. the last to deal prevents the u.s. from over the fiscal cliff. raising taxes on wealthy americans. knew about the. leaders of occupy wall street but chose not to live.

with the government in france. with the top stories of the week today this is the weekly tea with me rory sushi i live in moscow the syrian leader has just outlined his vision on how to two years of continued civil conflict and one of the key conditions for peace according to president bashar al assad is for regional and international powers to stop supporting groups. he was following exactly what he said. well there has certainly been rather interesting quotes coming from the syrian president he in fact called to hold an international reconciliation conference. and the violence and the

military conflict which is going on be going on for almost two years now in syria and this initiative according to assad will lead to a national wide referendum and fair election which is the only way according to the syrian president that the political landscape in this country can be changed but this initiative can only be possible according to assad if the western countries and some regional countries as he put it stuff investing into terrorist groups which are fighting to overthrow his his regime has been again pretty much a defined tone saying that the i quote that the only way that syria will listen to to the outside world is through a device not through a dictating will this speech of the syrian president comes amid very serious concerns about the safety of journalists working in syria the year has only just started but already we have a theory and

a pro governmental journalist killed this week who was wounded and then taken to the hospital where he later died also my own colleague from r.t. arabic station he got injured among a group of other journalists who were covering the movement of a governmental convoy through the country. says that they were shot at by the rebels despite wearing special jackets with the words press on them that also has been an ongoing story of ukrainian journalist on how to question about who's been missing and nobody knows where she is and whether she's actually alive but the reports that she was kidnapped by the rebels and there was a ransom demand that for her release outraged many organizations with the reports that syria has already been named as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists to work at certainly things are not looking any better at the moment. the reporting this week has seen dozens of people killed in

a series of bombings on petrol stations in damascus it's not clear who was behind the attacks but middle east experts say the violence will not go away until the government and the opposition both engage in dialogue the syrian government clearly indicated that he is willing to any kind of political settlement at the moment so the opposition is. party who is. refusing any negotiation with the government refusing any sitting to the table negotiating table negotiating. there is some opposition which are russian position. but these people are not the people who are. you know have any. military parts who are fighting in syria now almost two years of antigovernment protests change little rain fresh pro-forma demonstrate against the wall of

a police crackdown some experts say it's their brutality that is fueling the uprising. and the u.s. military is allowed to hold terror suspects for as long as it wants americans or foreigners. to the national defense authorization act and we take a close look at that in a few minutes here on our. barack obama signed a last minute deal that increases taxes on the wealthiest americans it prevented the country falling over the so-called fiscal cliff and the nation was on the brink of a financial nosedive with billions of dollars in tax hikes automatically coming into effect if the law hadn't been passed charlie mcgrath from the wide awake news fate of americans has never been a top priority ultimately end of the day for that of the u.s. . listen in to me when the cameras are off and it's time to pass a trillion dollar nearly trillion dollar defense bill they have no problem

whatsoever coming to coming together and holding hands with that kind of a deal together since two thousand and one namely we've been covering this nation by proxy the world by crisis and it doesn't matter who gets hurt who gets left by the wayside as long as a special interest is served so long as it's always under the shadow of crisis they will act but it's only when it has to do with acting in behalf of the people of this nation it seems like the people always take a backseat and are to use economics expert max keiser things to deal might indeed bring some short term relief but the big problems well they didn't go anywhere. the fiscal cliff is just more theater from bankers and politicians trying to distract people from the underlying root catastrophe that is a bunch of bankers who are manipulating the system today and destroying the economy that's first go clippers just more drama more theater and it doesn't really focus on the true underlying problems that we're going to see more of this going forward

in two thousand and thirteen anything that i flex attention from the mob what they're pitchforks and torches there are coming after these people they want to just delay that day of reckoning for as many months as they can but that day's reckoning in twenty thirteen it's comic. reporters more financial analysis on forecasts for the new year available for you any time dot com. this is arts he recently leaked f.b.i. documents shows the bureau knew of a plan to assassinate occupy wall street leaders but gave them no warning instead it chose to keep spying on the movement which are branded as a domestic terrorist group more important points. well it's not clear yet why the f.b.i. would neglect to tell activists that there was

a potential assassination plot surrounding them what we do know is that new documents obtained by the partnership for the civil justice fund a u.s. human human and civil rights advocacy organization have revealed that the u.s. the f.b.i. the department of homeland security the u.s. military and private corporations all cooperated together to monitor and investigate optic occupy wall street protesters as quote domestic terrorists and quote criminals now the more shocking revelation the headline of this story is that reportedly buried deep within the government. mentions of a plan to use snipers to assassinate occupy protesters and the movements leaders in various cities throughout the country these alleged plans were supposed to be taking place in the fall of two thousand and eleven know the names of the groups or individuals involved in the alleged plot are redacted from the f.b.i. documents but what critics say is clear is that the f.b.i. never alerted anyone of the potential any of the potential victims that their lives

could possibly be in danger or that there's any threat surrounding them the partnership for civil justice fund received the f.b.i. documents on december twenty second so this is fairly new information and this was after they filed a request under the freedom of information after now many civil rights attorneys previously have accused the f.b.i. of functioning as a de facto intelligence arm for u.s. corporations during the occupy wall street movement and especially as it grew bigger however some critics say they never ever suspected that the f.b.i. would neglect to tell occupy protesters u.s. citizens about an assassination plot surrounding them. i know we've got more about the f.b.i. documents on occupy wall street including the exact wording find that at r.t. dot com. now a protests calls for reform and the police violently lashing out of anti-government rallies the picture that's been a haunting bahrain for almost two years now the demonstrators still urging

a transition to a democratically elected government as madonna wish from the european bahraini organization for human rights claims even the most innocent people are falling victim to the police crackdown. security forces who are working for the ministry of interior and mccain are practicing and ought to by ends. by nations to human rights when confronting with pro-democracy protests and by the protesters here it by although they are those radical and practiced years they are the minority and not the majority but to be are using such methods to prevent their white and security forces from entering their their it their religion and attacking it on our civilians and children like we witnessed big you hand off of the four year old child being attacked by security forces with here gas canisters all right it's ten minutes past the hour moscow time a natural catalyst for discord it's no easy thing getting immigration right but

russia is among the four nations that have that's according to the u.n. a bit later here on the program we'll report on what it is that makes a country and you hope for. the church of england or maybe the official religion of the u.k. but it's under attack from all sides with attendances hitting rock bottom people being tempted away by other beliefs coming up just a bit later we'll look at whether the institution should be saying his prayers and nobody is the one. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear sees some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin markham's a big picture. sigrid

laboratory tim curry was able to build on the most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tombs mission to teach creation why it should care about humans and. this is why you should care what you only. three. three. three. three. three. three. video for your media. free media.

thanks for joining us here on. a big screen superstar. celebrating his new homeland after being handed his very own russian passport following with. the movie icon left his native france over what he called a punishing tax rates pushed on the rich by the new president. picks up the story. french activists have their parade here has mass where the russian president vladimir putin and has received his brand new russian passport so now it's official is that separate you has become a russian citizen now they're meeting to place inside she where she is on a personal trip before that he remembers his french citizenship and move to belgium where we pointedly he has some real estate this news comes as french president francois juan is trying to push forward a law that will see french citizens who earn more than one million euro piece seventy five percent of their earnings to track this meanwhile in other french

legendary movie i can brigitte bardot is also following the footsteps of georgia pretty about the reason behind her move is completely different now she's also a veteran any more rights campaigner and she has threatened to apply for russian citizenship if french authorities a youth and i see a peer office a caliph and at a zoo a new home. now a radio station in paris has claimed that five thousand french citizens have fled the country since francois hollande took office in part thanks to his tax policies and just i deployed you're one of the countries they've been moving to is russia and as i hear from sean thomas about what the largest country on earth has to offer a new migrants and certainly as we know from the new socialist leader in france he's upset certainly at least a few in fact that radio stations saying five thousand french citizens have now fled the country and. mega rich superstar saying that he's already paid millions in

taxes is it tax is really the issue that's going on here well certainly worry one thing's for sure napoleon if you knew it was this easy to get into russia there may not have been a war back in one hundred twelve but let's look at the taxes and that's the question at hand right now if you look at russia the current laws we have a flat tax rate here of thirteen percent in fact france and germany they both have complicated tax codes if you look at france forty one percent right now up to forty one percent in germany up to forty five percent as opposed to russia's thirteen percent so you can see it's a very attractive to come to russia but if this new law comes into effect in france that up to mark for france goes up to seventy five percent making russia even more attractive so you know why the super rich would be wanting to move over here instead i mean if indeed that goes up to seventy five percent you know here's a mega superstar if indeed getting one million dollar payday that's only getting what you want fifty thousand by the end of all the hard work we're talking about

a massive chunk going to the government here looking at the numbers you have behind you on the screen there certainly there when it comes to the global meltdown that we've been seeing for years particularly twenty twelve was not a good year for the eurozone or for much of the world indeed but somehow russia managed to avoid the global economic crisis and that is certainly the case in fact it is one of the brics countries which means it is one of the emerging markets in the world but if you look at what's been happening around europe in fact in the past year we've been seeing. austerity protests we've been seeing people coming to the streets who are looking for jobs and in fact the unemployment rate's if you look at greece twenty six percent if you look at the e.u. in general the average there are eleven percent france almost at that eleven percent at ten point seven percent you look at the unemployment rate in russia only six point four percent so you can see there are more jobs to be had here less people looking for work less of a dire situation but it's also an emerging market it is a diversifying market in things here relatively much more stable than in the rest

of europe certainly a lot of people saying there's an awful lot of opportunity here right here in russia the biggest country on the planet interesting though that the united nations has actually taken a moment to appraise russia's immigration policies and what's what about well certainly if you look at the numbers the most recent numbers in fact show that russia is the second most desirable country for immigrants to come to only second to the united states in fact a little bit more than twelve million immigrants who are living in russia right now who have moved to russia to make russia their new home part of the reason is that russia is more open country for foreigners it is more welcoming and putin himself has recently reiterated the need to open russia to look at immigration policies because he wants to fight brain drain he wants to fight people leaving and to look at russia's future and secure the future of the country he wants to make sure that he has the right policies in place to make that happen so a lot of people say that living in russia is very very affordable and myself and

i'm sure for you as well being an ex-pat here it's true when it comes to just basic house expenses as well electricity is very cheap the heating is basically free groceries are very affordable and all in all there's an awful lot of job opportunity here in russia as in the. case in fact it can be a little bit confusing because people look at the numbers about moscow being one of the most expensive cities for ex-pats to live well that's for ex-pats and it is true things here it is a big city it can be expensive but if you look at average cost of food it's. within the rest of europe if you look at the cost of electricity in fact a third as much as france in terms of electricity cost per kilo hour in a sixth as much as germany and then if you look at fuel prices if you look here we've got france coming in at a buck sixty five in terms of euro's and then russia only seventy seven cents and then in germany even much much more at one point five seven euros per liter of gas so much cheaper to live here for gas prices as well and basic living costs in

russia now keep in mind moscow russia you know this is the biggest city in the countries of course things are going to be a little bit more expensive here but russia in general things cheaper than in europe well certainly and i was just back in the u.k. over christmas visiting my family and my and my brothers and their children optically my brothers and their wives always complaining about how expensive it is to heat their house petrol indeed cost an absolute fortune one of my brothers drives a very small economic car it costs nearly one hundred dollars in fact more than one hundred dollars now just to fill up a small family sedan and when it comes to the issue of economics and your day to day wages and the expense of living here in russia or here in moscow despite all that regardless of that it's just a fun place to be isn't it certainly is in fact the arts in the culture of the entertainment here moscow is famous for its nightlife but if you look past that we have famous musicians coming from russia famous artists famous history architecture all of that here but i'm going to say russia has always had this balance between east and west right so if you look at the orthodox culture in the western cultures i think that the real reason people come here is that you get two christmases and

you get two new years show and if that's the case and you least another christmas present it's not to go shopping thanks artesian thomas good to see you. also we are coming to you live from the heart of moscow a pleasure to have you with us today this week president obama signed a law allowing the indefinite detention of u.s. terrorist suspects without charge without trial or the national defense authorization act also delays the closure of the infamous guantanamo bay prison for another a year veteran congressman dennis kucinich things the move is part of a pattern undermining democracy. right now we're much more of a garrison and garrison plus. a powerful military which keeps asserting itself globally and it doesn't make america any safer and frankly doesn't make the world safer we're spending upwards of six hundred billion dollars for an expanded pentagon presence for more war in afghanistan and for

proliferation of war in in yemen and somalia and other places we have a lot of problems here at home that we're not taking care of we have massive unemployment people are losing their homes people are losing their retirement security and i continue to say that we have to start emphasizing taking care of things here at home instead of developing a bigger footprint around the world as far as our military presence. now the high price of x. rated diplomacy when you can head online for details on a hunger on the bus about the colombia loses his job after a wild christmas with prostitutes held in the embassy even though it's reported he wasn't even there for all the. many statue of directed a full mobile sold get outrage from the locals who say it's an insult to. the victims the full story on the web site.

it's a pleasure to have you with us here on. as english as a sunday roast but the church of england isn't as strong as it used to be and as people leave the institution in their droves. looks at whether it can still justify its special status in the u.k. as the story. one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world with one official state religion to some it's a paradox i think any institute any faith institution like the church of england is going to have some potential threats on the horizon and those threats on the horizon are basically around its relevance to communities in general other faiths are significantly growing in their not only population but voice in

a social and political level so it's really important to have a plurality of opinion rather than just focus on one institution as being reflective of the nation yet the national church has twenty six on the elected members in the house of lords the upper house of britain's parliament and it enjoys financial privileges courtesy of the u.k. taxpayer by the church's own admission the number of people coming through the doors of this and every other church in england has harmed over the past forty years a very strong report even warns that in the longer term the established religion faces fading away to virtual embellishments twenty anglican churches just like this one being closed down for worship each year entrepreneurial property developers a snapping them up and converting them to luxury housing or even light clubs while the number of church goers in the u.k.

continues to fall some one hundred thousand britons have converted to islam over the past decade three quarters of those white women as you know broaden my knowledge about islam and compared with christianity i must tell you i found it more logical you know it just resonates with me i like what the prince of wales but he wants to be if ever he becomes king he wants to be the leader of faith you know of all faiths that i think is a wonderful statement because certainly our society here in britain is very multi-core. very multi-faith so everybody should be included while other faiths enjoy popularity the church of england's recent rejection of women bishops and disapproval of gay marriage has reignited the age old debate on the separation of church and state people feel alienated if they're not part of that church and so few people are because only two percent go to church on a normal sunday so that's why we must i think make sure that the church

is disestablished in the twenty six bishops that votes in the house of lords the only country in the world to have a parliament where they have the right to do that should be extinguished britain now has one of the lowest rates of church attendance in europe there is a rule. in terms of religious opinions there is and that will grow and that future may actually become wider as time goes on and so i guess what we have today is is the church effectively being relevant to certain parts of this country despite centuries of tradition some question what will be left of the church of england in fifty years time oh the statistics are very clear very clear almost disappeared with something i think the twenty fifty figures are one hundred thousand people in the pews on an average sunday out of

a population of sixty million that's miniscule but the privileges and political influence afforded to it are far from trivial and that's what's fuelling the cause of those who say that it's fairer to separate the church from the state party boyko r t london. and coming up with a program venezuela's long time leader will go chavez maybe too will after cancer surgery to attend his own in order. that is the opposition demands a new election if indeed he doesn't show up. and for better or for worse stay with us to find out where mixed israeli palestinian couples go to live in the face of discrimination that more. wealthy british style.

markets find scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to name two crimes a report on. soon which brightened. from fines to pressure.

starts on t.v. dot com. we're highlighting the top stories of the week here on arts here with me rory sushi and venezuela's president hugo chavez who's currently battling cancer he might be too willing to attend his own swearing in ceremony on thursday his political rivals meantime a demanding action if he doesn't show up to be inaugurated for his fourth term in office geo political analyst eric draitser believes the opposition is simply taking advantage of the situation to try and undermine the government. what is important is the fact that the opposition is using this as a political mechanism by which they can try to deal with jim eyes the government in venezuela remember that in two thousand and two when the united states and spain and other powers around the world collaborated in conspired to oust chavez in an

illegal coup and we saw what the significance of chavez was that he had a base of support on the streets in that country that could not be shaken by an international force and so what they're attempting to do is to use his health situation to break apart that base of support and to convince people that chavez is unable to serve the the constitution in venezuela allows for wiggle room here it does not say that just because he can't be at the inauguration at that given moment that there has to be new elections that is what the opposition is trying to create something that is not explicit they're trying to make it explicit the constitution it says that it can be delayed there are alternative arrangements that can be made the swearing in can take place in a different location and also it says that the new elections can only be called if and only if the elected president is permanently unable to serve there is no.